iance; and the best brilliance is that which throws a novel and
lambent light upon ordinary topics, rather than the brilliance which
disports itself in unfamiliar and exalted regions. The hero only ceases
to be a hero to his valet if he is too lofty-minded to enter into the
workings of his valet's mind, and cannot duly appraise the quality of
his services.

And then, too, to go back a little, there are certain defects, after
all, which are appropriate at different times of life. A certain
degree of shyness and even awkwardness is not at all a disagreeable
thing--indeed it is rather a desirable quality--in the young. A
perfectly self-possessed and voluble young man arouses in one a vague
sense of hostility, unless it is accompanied by great modesty and
ingenuousness. The artless prattler, who, in his teens, has an opinion
on all subjects, and considers that opinion worth expressing, is
pleasant enough, and saves one some embarrassment; but such people,
alas, too often degenerate into the bores of later life. If a man's
opinion is eventually going to be worth anything, he ought, I think, to
pass through a tumultuous and even prickly stage, when he believes that
he has an opinion, but cannot find the aplomb to formulate it. He ought
to be feeling his way, to be in a vague condition of revolt against what
is conventional. This is likely to be true not only in his dealings
with his elders, but also in his dealings with his contemporaries. Young
people are apt to regard a youthful doctrinaire, who has an opinion on
everything, with sincere abhorrence. He bores them, and to the young
boredom is not a condition of passive suffering, it is an acute form of
torture. Moreover, the stock of opinions which a young man holds are apt
to be parrot-cries repeated without any coherence from talks overheard
and books skimmed. But in a modest and ingenuous youth, filled to the
brim with eager interest and alert curiosity, a certain deference is
an adorable thing, one of the most delicate of graces; and it is a
delightful task for an older person, who feels the sense of youthful
charm, to melt stiffness away by kindly irony and gentle provocation,
as Socrates did with his sweet-natured and modest boy-friends, so many
centuries ago.

The aplomb of the young generally means complacency; but one who is
young and shy, and yet has the grace to think about the convenience and
pleasure of others, can be the most perfect companion in the world. On